The Hindu : I knew I could do it: Abhinav

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 17, 2003

Sport

Sport - Shooting

I knew I could do it: Abhinav

NEW DELHI JUNE 16. Abhinav Bindra, who won the air rifle Olympic quota place in the World Cup in Munich on Sunday, was not too excited and said he was happy as long as he shot to his potential.

"I am happy that I was able to make use of the opportunity. I always knew that I could do it. It was a matter of me shooting to my potential. I have been shooting well for the last seven months or so. It was not a surprise for me,'' said the 19-year-old Abhinav, playing down his effort of grabbing the quota place from among 129 shooters.

Of course, some of the top shooters had already won the quota place, and Abhinav was one of the best in the world, still looking for one before the competition in Munich. He eventually achieved the target with a comfortable margin of over one point, and not as reported earlier.

Rajmond Debevec of Slovenia, 0.3 points behind Abhinav, and Torsten Krebs of Germany 0.9 points behind the Indian, had already achieved the quota place, last year in Milan and this year in Zagreb respectively.

"It was just another day. There was nothing special. I might have had some technical problem with my gun earlier that stopped me from shooting the scores that I am capable of. I had checked my gun and the ammunition before this competition. May be the improved score had something to do with it,'' said Abhinav before boarding his flight back home.

For one who had won a World Cup bronze medal as far back as in 2001 at the same venue, Abhinav has indeed been struggling to strike the same level, but said that he was never under any pressure, self-imposed or otherwise.

"I am one of the best shooters in the world. If I shoot to my potential, I am capable of winning anything. I was never thinking about the medals or the Olympic quota place. I have only been aiming to shoot good scores that I am capable of,'' said Abhinav in a matter of fact tone.

Terming it as the first step towards the big goal, Abhinav said that he would continue to train hard and compete as much as possible, to hone his skills.

The young man who had narrowly failed to make the final of the Sydney Olympic Games, for which he was awarded a "hardship quota'' said that he owed his success to Gaby Buehlmann of Switzerland, his coaches and sports psychologists in the US.

Saying that he was not sure of making the final despite the good score of 596, Abhinav emphasised that he was quite confident of doing well in the final as he had trained for it.

"I had shot a 105 in a big final earlier in the season, and I had been training for the finals every week in the US. I knew that I can shoot good in the final,'' he said.

Conceding that qualifying for the Olympics itself was not easy, Abhinav added that everyone would be keen to shoot well in the Olympic Games, and that he would be equally prepared as anyone else.

"There is not much difference between the top 20 or 30 shooters. It all depends on the performance on a given day,'' said Abhinav, who will be competing in the World Cup in Korea after a fortnight.

The focus will continue but Abhinav will sit with the experts soon and chalk his plan towards achieving the bigger goal. For him, it was just another day that he managed to win an Olympic quota place and a bronze medal.

Maybe that is what they mean when they say, think big.

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